Jumper cable assemblies made from flat conductor cable are widely used by industry in electronic equipment primarily to interconnect printed circuit boards.
Heretofore, jumper cable assemblies have been made on a piece-by-piece basis by methods such as cutting cable to the desired length and then terminating the ends of the cut cable or by laminating flexible films to conductors having formed terminal ends.
A typical jumper cable assembly is comprised of a length of cable having a plurality of insulated electrical conductors therein with each conductor having first and second connecting means attached to and extending outwardly from respective ends thereof. Each connecting means has an attaching portion, an intermediate portion and a mating portion. The first and second connecting means need not necessarily be identical.
The present invention is directed toward making a continuous strip of separable jumper cable assemblies which can be rolled on a reel for both storage and shipping to a customer. The customer can separate the assemblies and apply them individually or use the strip for automated processes.
The strip of serially interconnected and individually separable jumper cable assemblies is comprised of said assemblies and relatively short intervening segments therebetween. Each assembly is comprised of a predetermined length of cable, said cable having at least one elongated insulated electrical conductor therein, said conductor having a first and second connecting means attached to and extending outwardly from respective ends thereof. Lines of perforations define junctions between said jumper cable assemblies and said intervening segments. The lines of perforations are disposed adjacent to said first and second connecting means. Upon removal of said intervening segments to effect separation of said jumper cable assemblies from said strip, said first and second connecting means are readily accessible for electrical interconnection in a desired circuit.
The cable in the preferred embodiment is a ribbon-like cable having a plurality of parallel elongated conductors insulated by flat ribbon-like insulating material. The perforation lines traverse the strip in a direction essentially normal to the direction of the conductors. Owing to the difference in length of the jumper cable assembly and the intervening segment, the pair of perforation lines defining the length of the intervening segment are closer together than those defining the predetermined length of jumper cable assembly.
A plurality of spaced apart connecting means are attached to each conductor. The connecting means, having an attaching portion, an intermediate portion, and a mating portion, are attached to the cable in rows adjacent and essentially parallel to the perforation lines. The perforation lines can be located above the mating, intermediate, or attaching portions of the connecting means. The mating portions of the connecting means along one of each pair of perforation lines that define the intervening segment face the mating portions along the second of each pair of those perforation lines and essentially lie above the intervening segment. Individual jumper assemblies can be removed from the strip by severing the cable along the perforation lines and removing intervening portions.